Tom Hanks reportedly made around $65M for the film 'Forrest Gump'

'Harry Potter’ ranks among the highest-grossing film franchises in history

The eight Harry Potter films earned $7.7B worldwide, placing the series alongside Star Wars, Marvel and James Bond as one of the top-grossing movie franchises ever produced. Watch a comparison over time here.

This year's highest-paid dead celebrities

Forbes unveiled the list of 13 highest-paid dead celebrities. For the first time ever, the top five people in Forbes 2022 list of highest paid dead celebrities, have made more than $100 million each

Global box office revenues hit $33.5B in 2025

The number was a marked improvement from 2024, up 12% from a particularly sluggish year. Disney films—including "Lilo & Stitch" and "Zootopia 2"—were some of the year's biggest earners.

The 50 best (and highest paying) jobs in America

Here are the 50 Best Jobs in America, according to Glassdoor. Where does your job fall? This report ranks jobs according to each job’s Glassdoor Job Score, determined by combining three factors: number of job openings, salary, and overall job satisfaction rating.

Hollywood actors make an average of $56K per year

While a Hollywood actor’s average salary can vary based their experience and the size of their projects, the average annual salary. in 2024 was $56,903.

Walt Disney holds the record for the most Oscars won by an individual

Disney received 59 nominations and a total of 22 competitive awards and four honorary awards. Walter Brennan, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Jack Nicholson all have the most awards for male actors (three each), while Katharine Hepburn is the actress with the most awards, winning four times.

Six body doubles explain the hidden labor behind Hollywood's seamless performances

When actors faces are out of view in a film, it's likely you're seeing a body double. Six such actors describe their experiences: as a curvier set of legs in "Pretty Woman," Michael B. Jordan's double in "Sinners," Hermione when her face is out of view (to abide by child labor laws), pianist hands, and more. A rich behind-the-scenes look.

One actor made a career out of playing Mark Twain

Hal Holbrook toured in the one-man show “Mark Twain Tonight!” for over six decades. In the performances, Holbrook wore Twain’s iconic white suit and offered witticisms similar to Twain’s famous lectures. Holbrook won a Tony Award in 1966 for a Broadway run of the show.

The best movies about Wall Street

From Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” to “American Psycho” starring Christian Bale, Hollywood has no shortage of Wall-Street-centric filmography. These films often distinguish themselves by interrogating why excess wealth and success are so often deemed synonymous in American culture.

Broadway grosses over $1B annually

The famous but relatively small geographic area is responsible for a relatively enormous economy, thanks to high demand and high ticket prices.

In 2011, President Obama awarded Warren Buffett the Presidential Medal of Freedom

Buffett was awarded the medal for his success as an investor and commitment to philanthropy alongside author Maya Angelou, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and Congressman John Lewis, among others. It’s perhaps the highest honor a civilian can receive.

A quote by award-winning actor Tom Hanks

"We are still in the position of waking up and having a choice. Do I make the world better today somehow, or do I not bother?"

The most expensive Super Bowl ad cost $26M

Amazon’s 2022 “Mind Reader” ad with Scarlett Johansson and Colin Jost is the most expensive Super Bowl ad to date. The ad is a minute and a half long, which drastically drove up the price of the commercial.

'Streets of Philadelphia' won an Academy Award in 1994

The song was written for “Philadelphia,” a 1993 film starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, and narrates the emotional journey of Hanks’ character, a gay man who’s fired after his employer learns that he has AIDS. The song won the Oscar for best original song the following year.

Hamilton has appeared on US paper currency since the Civil War

Since the US began printing money in 1861, Alexander Hamilton has appeared at different times on the $5, $2, $20, $50, $500, and $1000 bills. Since 1928, he has remained on the $10 bill—making him, alongside Benjamin Franklin, one of the two non-presidents currently on US currency.

Movies that killed these 17 actors' careers

Hollywood's history is checkered with flubs and successes, and many actors have suffered from portraying specific roles, even if the films were successful. This list goes into 17 acting careers that took a nosedive after a specific role, including Elizabeth Berkley in "Showgirls" and Sofia Coppola in "The Godfather: Part III." Read the rest here.

Rockwell's 'Saying Grace' sold for $46M in 2013

The 1951 painting is classic Rockwell: an image designed for the cover of the Saturday Evening Post featuring a humble American family engaging in a traditional value. To date, it's the highest-grossing work in Rockwell's catalog. Its buyer? "Star Wars" director George Lucas.

How Spielberg changed film

Before "Jaws," summer was Hollywood’s off-season. Steven Spielberg’s 1975 thriller changed all that, launching the era of the summer blockbuster. From "E.T." to "Jurassic Park," Spielberg’s films redefined how stories were told, how audiences reacted, and how studios marketed.

The Walton family behind Walmart is the world’s richest family with $432B

The world’s 10 richest families, including the families behind Hermès and Mars, control hundreds of billions of dollars worth of the world’s wealth.

Hollywood helped fund American military activity by boosting bond sales

To help fund its WWI military activity, the US introduced Liberty Bonds—government-issued debt marketed directly to the public. Starting at $50, the campaign targeted working Americans and offered Thrift Stamps to make bond-buying more accessible. Hollywood led the charge, with stars like Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford boosting bond sales.

1993’s ‘Super Mario Bros.' was the first live-action movie based on a video game

The 1993 live-action adaptation was supposed to be an easy hit, thanks to the brand Nintendo had already established. But the film, starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, and Dennis Hopper was a critical and commercial flop. Hoskins would later called it “the worst thing I ever did.”

Roughly 43 million Americans hold a cumulative $1.6T in federal student debt

About 43 million Americans hold a cumulative $1.6T in federal student debt. That's more than the country's combined credit card balance, according to data from in the first quarter of the year 2024.

The Rolling Stones were paid $3M to have 'Start Me Up' in the Windows 95 promo

The fee was part of Microsoft's $300M advertising and promotional campaign for the operating system, which featured the Start button for the first time. The company also filmed sitcom-style infomercials featuring "Friends" TV stars Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry.

Why coffee prices have reached record highs in 2026

Coffee beans reached $9.46 per pound in February 2026, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the highest price since the Bureau began tracking the price in 1980. Experts blame bad weather in Brazil and Vietnam (the world's largest producers) and heightened US tariffs.

In 2004, Prince paid tribute to George Harrison with a surreal solo

The 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony paid tribute to the recently deceased Beatle with a rendition of one of his most famous songs by Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, and George Harrison's son, Dhani. Several minutes into the performance, Prince suddenly appeared center stage for a virtuosic solo. He ended it by tossing his guitar into the crowd. Tom Petty's drummer would later say, "Everybody wonders where that guitar went, and I gotta tell you, I was on the stage, and I wonder where it went, too."

Warren Buffett's former professor Benjamin Graham is known as the 'father of value investing,' a strategy in which investors seek to buy stocks trading below their intrinsic worth.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

The animatronic shark from Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws,' the first modern blockbuster, was a complex underwater apparatus called 'Bruce.'

Walt Disney's early film 'Alice's Wonderland' was a groundbreaking innovation in the silent film era

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

The price of gas is a composite made up of several different factors, with the federal gas tax making up less than 20% of what drivers pay at the pump.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Double world record holder Hunter Ewen helped conquer his fear of balloons, called globophobia, by training to win Guinness World Record titles for balloon inflation.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

Quincy Jones' 'Big Band Bossa Nova' helped introduce bossa nova—a jazz-influenced Brazilian genre—to the US

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

One of the most famous portraits ever taken is 'Afghan Girl' (1984) by Steve McCurry, yet the subject Sharbat Gula went much of her life without being identified or benefitting from the image's success.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

SpongeBob exemplifies Aristotle's philosophy for living well because he understands that happiness doesn't come from external factors like money, recognition, or power.

See a ranking of the best (and worst) Federal Reserve Chairs since 1914 out of the 16 men and women who have held the office since.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

In 2025, four executives from large tech companies were given positions in the US Army Reserves—including Palantir Chief Technology Officer Shyam Sankar, which reinforced Palantir's ties with the US military and its role as a leading defense partner.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Before humans, the Soviet Union and the United States sent animals—including apes, dogs, and cats—to space during the Space Race.

Comedy legend Catherine O'Hara, star of 'Schitt's Creek' and 'Home Alone,' quit 'Saturday Night Live' after just one week to return to her old job.

Stanford built a Google Maps for the Roman Empire, revealing how much it cost to travel in the ancient world